The Pirates think they acquired someone with a huge upside when they dealt for corner infielder Casey McGehee. Not unreasonable optimism: He is a 29-year-old who hit .291, with 39 homers and 170 RBIs, in 2009-10. On the same day the Brewers dealt him, they signed Aramis Ramirez as his replacement at third, helping explain why McGehee was made available.

Sure, McGehee is coming off a sour season, in which he lost 62 points off his average with 10 fewer homers and 37 fewer RBIs than the season before. That’s how one-time lineup mainstays become available.

Manager Clint Hurdle implies the Bucs have been on McGehee’s case long before finally reeling him in. “For two years, we haven’t been able to get him,” Hurdle says. “He had a rough year, but I think he gives us a big shot in the arm. I’m very happy to have him.”

McGehee, however, did not come cheaply. The price to the Pirates was reliever Jose Veras, who had ranked second in the NL with 79 appearances in which he was pretty valuable. How valuable? The Pirates went 40-39 in those games.

But they may just have found a replacement for Veras the other day, in one of those low-profile signings that are typical for this late stage of the offseason. Righty reliever Juan Cruz was one of about a dozen free agents last week to sign Minor League contracts that came with invitations to Spring Training.

Don’t read Cruz’s prospects into his “non-roster” status. The Pirates couldn’t offer him a more secure deal because, at 40, their Major League roster is filled to capacity. You bring guys like him into camp and if they show you their goods, you make the necessary roster moves to create room.

Cruz has had some notable dips in his career graph but overall has been a major bullpen weapon for 11 years. The Tampa Bay Rays are experts at career revivals, and they turned Cruz into one of their successful projects last season. Although often used in mop-up roles, he did post a 3.88 ERA in 56 outings and was perfect in five decisions.

That marked the fourth time in eight years that Cruz had a sub-4.00 ERA in 50-plus appearances.

He could go quickly from afterthought to the forefront.

Trades of baseball players have nothing on trades of baseball beat writers. Theirs come with “a player to be named later.” Ours came with “beat writers named earlier.”

Two weeks ago came word that your Jenifer Langosch would transition into MLB.com’s reporter for the St. Louis Cardinals, and that I would (try to) replace her on the Pirates beat.

Today, it officially goes down.

Okay, this is not the countdown that you’ve been waiting to hit zero. That one still has 23 days to go until pitchers & catchers.

But personally I’m stoked that this day is finally here. The enthusiasm I had for this assignment two weeks ago has only mushroomed in the interim, thanks to the words of welcome and let’s-get-it-started from so many of you.

I felt this would be a rewarding gig, in a dynamic place. Your reactions only confirmed that suspicion.

I’m going to get to know this team inside and out, upside and down, thick and thin.

I’ll report everything about the Bucs and the Pirates players, keeping you abreast of them and really making you feel like a part of them.

I won’t only be your eyes. I’ll be your ears, too: Got something on your mind, let’s hear it. The lines of communication are open.

But you should know that I’m from the glass-is-half-full school. I’d much rather toast someone, than make him toast.

That does not make me an apologist: If there is bad news or a discouraging side, I’ll know it and through me you will, too. But I’m not going out of my way searching for the negative. Sometimes, the positive is so much harder to find, but so much more rewarding to do so.

Spring is a wonderful time. Neither the grass nor impressions have yet taken root. The canvas is blank. There is no reason to not think anyone can be a winner, no reason to not like anyone.

Forget the seat belts. It’s not going to be a bumpy ride at all. Hop aboard.

Ok, some things to know about me (or, maybe not).

I hate references to baseball as an “industry.” Auto assembly and furniture manufacturing are industries. The noble people in industry who make the country run play baseball games after their shifts.

Remember watching Ed Sullivan introduce The Beatles, dug Simon & Garfunkel and Blood, Sweat and Tears — and now groove to Lady Gaga and think Jay-Z is amazing.

I “pitched” in the last game managed by Gene Mauch. It was a media-Angels charity game at Ho Ho Kam Park during 1988 Spring Training. The next day, Mauch went on a medical leave, and never returned to the dugout. Gave up homers to Dante Bichette and Tony Armas — but did retire Brian Downing on a comebacker.

When I left Pittsburgh for the West Coast, I subscribed-by-mail to the Pittsburgh Press just so I could stay up on the Pirates, even though it was all three-day-old-news by the time it got to me. Internet? Yes, please!

Definition of bittersweet: Had my engagement party on Dec. 31, 1972. Then the music was interrupted by news bulletins of the crash of a plane taking earthquake-relief supplies to Nicaragua.

Hate.It.When.People.Write.In.One.Word.Sentences.

I covered (all these go in the right-place-at-the-right-time bin):

• Nolan Ryan’s last strikeout. During a typical seven innings of four-hit, no-earned runs stint in Anaheim on Sept. 17, 1993. Left his next start in Seattle with a bum arm before retiring a batter, never pitched again.
• Hank Aaron’s last home run. July 20, 1976, in Milwaukee, on an occasional road trip in place of the L.A. Herald-Examiner’s regular Angels reporter. After No. 755, Hammerin’ Hank concluded his career without another in his last 23 games and 64 at-bats.
• Ken Griffey Jr.’s last home run. Asterisk, please: It came in a 2010 Cactus League game — a walk-off grand slam against the Reds, no less — and The Kid never hit one before his midseason retirement.

Best baseball movie: Bang The Drums Slowly (sorry, Field of Dreams).

Best baseball song: Frank Sinatra’s “There Used to Be a Ballpark.”

Favorite players to cover with the Angels: John Candelaria, Dave Parker. Ellis Valentine, Bruce Kison; gee, wonder why?

To be continued …

I have an old scratchy record — a thing made of vinyl with a hole in the middle that used to play music — on which Rosey Roswell says, “Open the window, Aunt Minnie, here it comes!”

And Bob Prince adds, “How sweet it is!”

Now I get to riff on Roswell’s biggest hit. “Open your arms, Pittsburgh, here I come.”

How sweet it is.

I’m pleased and proud to take a bow as MLB.com’s new beat reporter for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the natural destination of an 11-year journey with this dynamic company.

I grew up in Pittsburgh. Although I spent relatively few of my overall years there, they were the most important, formative years.

There were two major influences luring me into becoming a writer: Roy McHugh, who as columnist with the Pittsburgh Press mesmerized me with his bare-knuckles and literate reports from seedy billiard halls, and Tom Jones (seriously), my English — what else? — teacher at Taylor Allderdice High School.

Then there was the afternoon I came home from Colfax Elementary and plopped in front of the living room TV to watch cartoons and was disappointed to see Bugs Bunny preempted by some baseball game.

But before Elmer Fudd could pop up Bill Mazeroski hit a home run over Yogi Berra’s head past the Longines clock, car horns immediately went off outside the window, and I was hooked.

I was in Forbes Field’s bleachers for Willie Stargell’s first Major League at-bat. Heck, I watched Pete Rose’s Major League debut on KDKA-TV, from Crosley Field. I worshipped at the Church of Roberto Clemente, loved seeing Jerry Lynch come off the bench, and danced to Sister Sledge

So, yeah, I’ve been around the block a few times. But there isn’t a back-in-the-day bone in my body.

Been around a few warning tracks, too. I’ve been blessed to be able to spend my entire adult life as a writer, from newspapers to magazines to wire services. I’ve covered entertainers, politicians, CEOs.

But you know first loves. Never lost my passion for baseball, and was again blessed when MLB.com came along in 2001 and asked me to jump aboard.

I covered the Angels in my adopted hometown — the opportunity to attend UCLA had lured me out of Pittsburgh, the wonder of hippie-era Saturday nights on Sunset Strip kept me from going back — my first year with MLB.com, after which I transferred to New York as an East Region feature writer and then fulfilled the same role in Arizona.

MLB.com enabled me to cover the game in which Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s record for career homers. A “few” years earlier, while with the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, I covered the game in which Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s record.

I believe I’m the only reporter to have covered both of those. Which kinda makes me proud.

But not as much as this new opportunity to cover the heirs of my boyhood heroes, and to bond with their fans.

Jenifer Langosch is a writer I tremendously admire. I join you in wishing her nothing but the best at her own new adventure, covering the World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals.

She will be a tough act to follow.

But I’ve been rehearsing for this act all my life. Curtain up.

Approaching and experiencing the 2011 World Series, there was much talk about the Rangers being on the spot to avoid becoming the first AL team in nearly a half-century to lose consecutive Fall Classics.

Then, when they did … we seemed to change the channel. No follow-ups.

We’ll fill in that blank (and, hopefully, not add to the post-Thanksgiving indigestion of Arlington fans):

• Texas is only the 10th team ever to lose back-to-back Fall Classics.
• Of the previous nine clubs, seven didn’t even make the following postseason (but, full disclosure: six of those instances occurred prior to 1969 and divisions, when you had to win pennants and directly went to the Series).
• Only one team stayed the course the ensuing season, returned to the World Series and won it: The 1923 Yankees, who exacted revenge over the Giants after losing the 1921-22 Classics to them.

Having to flash all the way back to the Roaring ’20s isn’t very encouraging for the Rangers and their fans, is it?

More recently, after losing the 1991-92 Series, the ’93 Braves did return with a 104-win season (and a six-game NLCS loss to the Phillies.

The two double-Classic losers prior to that, however, couldn’t even manage a winning record the following season: The 1979 Dodgers were 79-83, the 1965 Yankees 77-85.

If Ron Washington wanted to present his guys a worthwhile carrot — there it is.

It beats simply wanting to avoid becoming the first team to drop three straight Series in a century: The 1907-09 Tigers and 1911-1913 Giants were the only ones to manage that trifecta.

Now that the CBA dust has settled — somewhat; the new Draft-spending dust-up is just beginning — I thought it might be intriguing to take a fresh look at another controversial aspect of the labor contract: The addition of one more Wild Card playoff team in each league, perhaps as soon as next October.

Did I say “fresh” look? I meant “historical” look. Doubling up on Wild Card teams will mean a one-game playoff between them to progress into the heart of the postseason — and the fact is, there have already been 10 play-in games in MLB history, the previous all needed to break ties at the conclusion of the regular season.

If the track record means anything, the new postseason guests will feel as welcomed as ants at a picnic. Their long-haul prospects are pretty dim. The thrill of gaining a postseason berth, of perhaps even winning that first rung, will fade into a quick boot from the playoffs.

In the Divisions Era — which obviously added extra obstacles to going all the way — only one of eight one-game playoff survivors has continued to a World Series title: The very first, the 1978 Bucky Dent Yankees, who after bouncing the Red Sox took the ALCS over Kansas City and the Series over the Dodgers.

Of the subsequent seven, only one even survived into the World Series: The 2007 Rockies, who remained unconscious (sweeps of the Phillies in the NLDS and of the D-backs in the NLCS) until being revived by Boston (swept in the Fall Classic).

Four others (2009 Twins, 2008 White Sox, 1998 Cubs and 1980 Astros) were summarily bounced in the first round (going a collective 4-12 in games), while the other two (1999 Mets and 1995 Mariners) at least stretched their lives into the League Championship Series.

Incidentally, the first two one-game playoff winners did cop World Series titles — but back in the day a pennant directly earned a get-in-the-Series card: The 1908 Cubs won a playoff over the Giants, then beat the Tigers for what still is their last Classic championship, and in 1948 the Indians won their tiebreaker over the Red Sox and beat the Braves for their last Series title.